It’s naive to think that any piece of technology you buy doesn’t have some kind of expiry date. There’s a good reason even the most hipster of hipsters aren’t doing all of their computing on a ZX Spectrum, listening to all their favourite albums on tape, or giving themselves a hernia whenever they fancy moving their television. But it’s something else entirely when a new gadget, in an era of supposed eco-friendly awareness, is intentionally designed with a strictly limited lifespan. Yet that’s the case with the Pebble Index 01.
The concept itself probably belongs in the ‘nice but unnecessary’ category. It’s the sort of thing people who convince themselves that they are too busy to even prod a button on a phone feel compelled to own. In short, it’s a smart ring. You wear it on your index finger and trigger it with your thumb. This means you can use it even when your hands are otherwise engaged. (With what, I’m unsure. Not other devices, presumably, or you’d just use them instead.) Anyway, prod the button and you can make a quick recording. That’s then squirted to your phone and processed by a local AI model that converts it into a note, timer, alarm, or reminder.
Look, I get it if you think offloading ideas in a friction-free way – with only a smallish chance of developing thumb RSI – sounds great. But I can’t get on board with a $99 device that runs on a hearing aid battery you can neither replace nor even recharge. At some point (Pebble estimates two years), the Index 01 will be e-waste. The suggested solution at that point? Recycle the dead unit and buy another one. And even the two-year lifespan could prove optimistic.
Ring out the old
It’s based on Pebble estimates of users eating into the 12–15 hours of battery life in tiny bursts: a few seconds of recording a dozen or so times per day. But if a device is transformative, you’ll want to use it more. And Pebble has ambitions to expand the Index 01’s feature set. So it’s a pity this comes with the expectation you’ll keep buying replacement units instead of being able to keep your existing ring alive by refreshing the battery in any manner whatsoever.
If you think I’m being unfair to Pebble, you might have a point. Although not because it’s tricky to make a smart ring with a battery you can replace when it’s dead rather than hurling the entire device into the trash. Any unfairness comes from singling out one company when it has merely given us the latest example of consumable hardware. Look around and you’ll see an industry awash with ultimately ‘throwaway’ gadgets . Case in point: Apple’s AirPods, which also lack replaceable batteries. Take them to a store, pay a fee, and Apple swaps your dead pair for refurbs.
I’m sure Pebble, Apple and others would argue recycling cancels out constantly (and unnecessarily) getting new gadgets rather than keeping older ones going. But it doesn’t have to be this way. By coincidence, the Pebble Index 01 announcement arrived alongside one from Fairphone. Its lightly revamped Fairbuds XL reportedly improve audio quality but also ramp up sustainability. And they were always very repairable anyway.
You might say they’re huge compared to AirPods, let alone a ring. True. But you can replace batteries in Fairphone earbuds too. The company hasn’t yet ventured into the index-finger wearable space, but perhaps Pebble should give Fairphone a ring. Just not the kind you wear.
Image credit: Hourglass photo by goanna2 on Freeimages.com.
- Now read: Best eco gifts for Christmas 2025
